An audio clip of an Alaska Air pilot who tried to shut the flight down mid-air under the influence of “mushrooms” has surfaced on the internet. The audio dates back to October 2023, which reveals the moment when the man cut off the fuel of the aircraft that was carrying 84 people.The audio captures the panic at the moment as the pilots could be heard cussing vehemently before they asked the ATC for an emergency landing in Portland, audibly out of breath.“We need to make an emergency landing,” the pilot said. “We got a jump seater who just tried to shut our engines off. We need to go direct to Portland now.”The video then cuts to the man being transported as he is visibly handcuffed. He can be heard mumbling, “I want to take accountability, but I want to be forgiven for being so stupid.”On October 22, 2023, Joseph Emerson, a former Alaska Airlines pilot who was sitting in the jump seat due to the flight being full. It was then, when he went under the influence of a psychedelic mushroom that he had consumed two days earlier. Aboard Flight 2059, he went to pull the red handle in the engine control, which is used to cut off the fuel of the aircraft in case of fire.The crew was able to subdue him successfully and make a safe landing.CBS reported that after talking to Emerson, he revealed that he did not mean to make the flight crash.“No, no. I had no intention of crashing the actual airplane. I wanted to wake up,” Emerson said, “I was convinced I wasn’t going home to my wife and kids. It wasn’t reality.”He further went on to reveal that he was mourning the loss of his best friend and initially sought comfort in alcohol before eventually trying psilocybin mushrooms for the first time.“It didn’t wake me up, right. It, I was in reality. I know that now,” he said. “It’s the most consequential three seconds of my life.”Emerson admitted to a federal charge of interfering with a flight crew and separately entered no-contest pleas to state counts of endangering an aircraft and 83 people.The federal plea resulted in a sentence of time served, 46 days in jail, along with three years of supervised release, while the state case concluded with time served and five years of probation.
